VARIOUS ARTISTS – JAZZ- OCH ROCKSTIPENDIATER 1976 (Caprice, 1976)

 

Featured artists: Text & Musik / Krokus / Sonant Space
Instrumental, Swedish vocals, other languages
International relevance: **

These three bands were all awarded a Swedish Concert Institute grant that included a nationwide live tour, sessions for the Tonkraft live radio series; and an LP release split between the bands. The concert institute's own label Caprice Records were responsible for the album release.

Krokus were improvisation jazz, Sonant Space fusion, and Gothenburgers Text & Musik had rock leanings. Of the three grant holders, only Text & Musik went on to a recording career, including two albums for the Nacksving imprint. Krokus however had a trombone player that later became very famous in both the national and international fields of soul, pop, funk and jazz, namely Nils Landgren. Krokus appear with one long track that moves from spiritual jazz to 'organized free jazz' before ending in an almost folkish, lyrical fashion slightly reminiscent of Arbete & Fritid. Their portion is the best on the disc.

Sonant Space (later known as just Sonant) played a complex mix of prog rock and funk, and clearly ambitious, they were a bit too ambitious. Their two tracks are unnecessary complicated, and Sonant Space sounds like a young band (which they were) that really wants to prove something. Obviously technically skilled but like too many bands in that ilk, they go so hard at it the results become messy and unfocused. Some sections are just fine, but with so much nervously going on, their contributions sound more like exercises in high level mathematics than focused music. (A third track from the same Tonkraft session as these selections is available on Youtube.)

The three songs by Text & Musik are very different to each other. ”Ibo-Le-Le” is a Haitian voodoo song, ”Ljusen har slocknat i Shanghai” (co-written by Andreas Aarflot) is like a mini-play featuring spoken bits, fusion jazz and Latin infused cocktail jazz, while ”Det måste gå” features lyrics by poet Göran Sonnevi. They're not very smooth to sing. But while the lyrics are too unweildy for vocals, the track features some nice, fluent guitar work from Thomas Carlsson. All three tracks were recycled for the band's debut album "Jaguaren".

With two otherwise undocumented bands, ”Jazz- och rockstipendiater 1976” is all in all more interesting from an academic perspective than a musical one.

Sonant Space
Nogleckt (from bassist Tommy Riboe's website)
Tapto (from bassist Tommy Riboe's website) 

SPRING QUINTETT – Spring Quintett (Polar, 1981)

Instrumental
International relevance: **

Mixing members from Sweden, Denmark and Norway, ”Spring Quintett” was released in Sweden on Polar in 1981. An unusual release for a label best known for ABBA, as this is a relatively imaginative fusion album, centered around EGBA member Bjarne Roupé's guitar and Mats Lundvall's piano. The songs were mainly written by saxophonist Stefan Grahn, and they don't take the easy way out; the songs have quitks and angles not too typical to early 80s standard fusion. Spring Quintett had a broad scope of jazz styles merging into something rather original and underappreciated. You can hear traces of performers as diverse as Pharoah Sanders, Terje Rypdal, Harald Svensson, and late 70s free jazz, with dashes of Albert Ayler's and Ornette Coleman's melodicity. While not an absolute top shelf release, it does have a quite a few interesting touches and moments. I would have liked to hear more from this outfit, but this was unfortunately their only album. The streaming version has one bonus track though.

Full album playlist (with bonus track)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – MUSIKFESTIVALEN 1978 (no label, MC, 1978)

 
Featured artists: Magnum Brus / Trycket / Harline Blue / Handkraft / Staffan Pettersson / Kylans Rockorkester / Horny Band / Inferno
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

An incredibly rare cassette, home copied on standard TDK tapes and privately released locally in the northern town of Örnsköldsvik in 1978. The compilation was recorded live during a benefit festival for Örnsköldsvik youth club that needed renovating. Several local acts performed at the festival, the best known being Kylans Rockorkester along with several bands that never made it beyond the city limits. Apart from Kylans Rockorkester, only Hairline Blue got as far as to have a 45 out under their own name, although a couple of the performers also appeared on ”Musikfest 80 Örnsköldsvik”. There's heavy rock, bebop, jazz fusion, and funk, and the level of playing varies almost as much as the musical styles. Some bands are pretty skilled while others are not. The sound quality isn't great but OK for a 70s audience recording. Neither is the music. The best selection is ”Spränga hela skiten”, the first-ever released Kylans track, atypically dark in mood coming from them and not as bluesy as their better known stuff.

”Musikfestivalen 1978” is definitely of interest to collectors of local releases, but the average listener need not bother.

Full album playlist 

ROLAND KEIJSER KVARTETT – Öppet Tre (Caprice, 2025; rec. 1968-69)

 

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

This third volume of Caprice Records' vinyl only "Öppet" series is a highly interesting outing with late 60s recordings by Roland Keijer's quartet. (Volume 1 is reviewed here with some background info on the series.) This is the seed that would soon grow into Arbete & Fritid, with Torsten Eckerman on trumpet and piano, Bosse Skoglund on drums, and fleshing out the line-up, the meritorious bassist Staffan Sjöholm. The four tracks were all recorded in Stockholm at different spots and dates in 1968 and 1969. The sound characteristics differ a bit between the tracks, but the quality is good to very good throughout.

Three of the tracks are long, from 10 to almost 20 minutes with only ”Sommarromans” being around the three minute mark. The recordings are a testament to Keijser's jazz origins and also reflect his love for both Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman, rich with a cheeky, melodic playfulness. Childlike melodies and phrases reccuringly lighten up the crosspollination of free jazz and post-bop. Here and there you can sense ideas and snippets of what would come with Arbete & Fritid, most obviously in ”The Big Bad Wolf Of Baba-Louie” which exists in an Arbete & Fritid recording on the V/A compilation ”Jazz från det svenska 70-talet”. The version here however sounds a bit tentative and meek in comparison.

The value of ”Öppet tre” doesn't rely on historical importance alone. It's a very good album in itself and a beautiful example of late 60s Swedish jazz when the genre was slowly opening up to a plethora of influences and the rich structures of the 70s in which Roland Keijser had a crucial role. It may not knock me over like the previous Nisse Sandström volume does, but it's nevertheless a mandatory installment in this series. I only wish someone will step forward and release more early Keijser material. 

Full album playlist 

KJELL ÖHMAN – Misturada (Sonet, 1975)

 
Instrumental
International relevance: *

Kjell Öhman was a keyboard player who cut his teeth with lightweight instro band The Telstars in the mid 60s shortly before releasing his first solo album in 1966. He later turned to studio work including Robert Broberg, Nailband and Bengt-Arne Wallin, but kept releasing albums under his own name off and on on the side. ”Misturada” is from 1975 and a marginal inclusion here as the style is too diverse, ranging from solo piano jazz to samba inflected numbers and muzak fusion. It's the fusion tracks that pushed ”Misturada” over the blog edge. They're unfortunately not good with the possible exception of the Alphonse Mouzon penned ”The Funky Waltz” which is slightly reminiscent of a lighter pre-Headhunters Herbie Hancock. The album features Mads Vinding and Ed Thigpen among others, and has a sleeve design by Lasse Åberg.

Full album

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Tvärsnitt (Caprice, 1978)

Featured artists: Hayena Band / Kattegatt / Claes Wettebrandts Trio / Vågspel / Puls / Boojwah Kids / Krubbits / Alter Ego / Marulk / Änglaspel
Instrumental, Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

The still active Caprice Records were very active pushing unknown bands to public attention, releasing a fair number of various artists compilations in the 70s apart from their regular output of folk music, jazz and contemporary composers. Albums such as ”Det nyjazzte från Göteborg”, ”Jazz och rockstipendiater 1976”, ”Jazz och rock”, and even ”Gatumusik från Stockholm sommaren 76” reveal their consideration of yet unsigned acts. Some remained unsigned, or were forced to release music on their own to make a mark outside of Caprice's release schedule, while others got a more or less prolific career such as Änglaspel, Boojwah Kids and Claes Wetterbrandts Trio. Kattegatt had an interesting album out on their private label, while the exceptional Hayena Band and symph rockers Alter Ego (later Alter Echo) had to wait decades before finally reaching out to the public with archival releases. Vågspel, Puls, Krubbits and Marulk were less fortunate and soon disappeared in obscurity.

”Tvärsnitt” is appropriately subtitled ”13 unga svenska jazz- och rockgrupper 1978” (=”13 young Swedish jazz and rock groups 1978”), so expect some diversity in style here, ranging from prog rock to average piano jazz. But the general competence level is high – some too competent for their own good, emphasizing skill over emotional content, but some of it is in fact quite good. I've already singled out Hayena Band as way above average, and Kattegatt were indeed interesting. The track from Puls starts out as pedestrian jazz fusion but suddenly bursts with heavy Miles Davis energy circa '71-'72. Boojwah Kids are what they are, but if you're into them, their ”Gul sak som känns” is a welcome addition to their small output.

If you don't expect absolute consistency, then ”Tvärsnitt” is a fairly worthwhile compilation with the odd surprise hidden away in the tracklist. 

Hayena Band - Puerto Tune  
Alter Ego - Innan strax före  

BENGT BERGER / ROLAND KEIJSER / KJELL WESTLING – The Vedbod Tapes / More Vedbod Tapes (Country & Eastern, 2012; rec. 1977)

  

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

This is such a beauty of a record! Beautiful for so many reasons. A unique document of a candid process reserved for the involved musicians only, secret to outsiders. A truthful representation of the naked creativity and mental interplay between a few select performers.

The select performers in question are three close friends that all have (or had, with two of them now sadly gone) a thorough track record. If you want to oversimplify it, you could conveniently express it as: Arbete & Fritid. Drummer/percussionist Bengt Berger, reed player Roland Keijser and multi-instrumentalist Kjell Westling were all part of the line-up for the first two Arbete & Fritid albums. It's fair to see them as a crucial co-founders of Swedish progg even in its narrowest sense.

The recordings on ”The Vedbod Tapes” were never made with an official release in mind. They were more of a memento for the three longtime buddies, a documentation of a friendly get-together in Roland Keijser woodshed. ”Vedbod” means ”woodshed” in English, and apart from the literal meaning, ”woodshedding” is an old jazz term for jamming. Keijser sheds (some) light on the origins of the recordings in his liner notes: ”We usually refer to this unique document as 'the Vedbod tapes'. The circumstances are not crystal clear, but the fact is that all of the music was recorded in a woodshed in south-west Dalarna in 1977. /.../ The 'archaeological digs' for the Vedbod tapes recently acquired a new urgency, and were further intensified after the sudden – too, too soon! – death in the autumn of 2010 of Kjell Westling. /.../ The music, in general, sounded good. a little sound-technique polishing but no real editing was done to these findings, we kept the documentary approach preferring to keep too much rather than too little. Ah, this is how it could sound, once upon a time, in certain Swedish realities. /.../ What do we play? Apparently free from the heart, memory and imagination. Mostly collective improvisations. But also a couple of Ornette Coleman tunes, some popular songs, the odd polska, waltz and halling, a few tango bars… But, above all, sundry lengthy chunks of unidentifiable inventions, the names of which are known only to the woodshed.”

Key words: ”free from the heart”. The trio had no rules to follow; it's like a free-flowing heart-to-heart conversation that needed no restrictions but relied on perfect equality. That's part of what makes these tapes so fascinating and rare. It's free music but on even deeper levels than as in for example ”free jazz” because it refers to more than just musical characteristics. It's the unfettered sound of a deep friendship.

Although all three of these master musicians contribute democratically to the process, the greatest triumphs belong to Kjell Westling. Although he was always happy to adapt to the prerequisites of circumstances known to the studio musician and did so with ease, here he really threw himself into the open-ended expression. If it came out as a folk fiddle or a wide open jazz jam didn't matter; he was free to follow his fancies without narrow considerations, and it's wonderful to hear. In many ways, I find this to be his grandest moments on tape because you can really hear him for all that he was – and that was a lot.

The CD features 70 minutes selected from hours of tapes, but Country & Eastern released another half an hour of digital extras in conjunction with the CD. The main portion of ”More Vedbod Tapes” is made up by the 26 minute jam ”Woodshedding 3” which in many ways is the distillate of everything that was going on during those days in Keijser's secret garden shed. Without a pre-set plan, Keijser, Westling and Berger move effortlessly between jazz, folk melodies and unprejudiced jamming, led only by their hearts, souls and deep understanding for each other. Like I said before: this is what a true friendship sounds like. 

The Vedbod Tapes full album playlist 
More Vedbod Tapes full album playlist 

SANSARA MUSIC BAND – Plays The Music Of Lars Färnlöf (Mirrors, 2008; rec. 1976)

  
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

I'm not too impressed by Sansara Music Band's only other release, an eponymous album recorded in 1977. This archival disc is taken from a radio session the previous year with a largely different line-up, but the style is roughly the same, meaning funky soul jazz with light fusion touches. Although I'm not amazingly thrilled by it, it's still a more vivid performance with especially pianist Bobo Stenson leaving an indeliable mark on the recording. If I had to choose one of Sansara's now two albums, I'd go with this one.

Full album playlist

EMPHASIS ON JAZZ – Tabaruzaka (Four Leaf, 1980)

 
Instrumental
International relevance: **

Emphasis On Jazz were a sort-of supergroup in the jazz field, founded by ex-Gimmicks reed player Urban Hansson along with Berndt Egerbladh in the mid-70s. Completing the line-up on this their first proper Emphasis On Jazz album were well credited drummer/percussionist Jan Bandel, bassist Thomas Östergren (ex-Barabbas and sometime member of Oriental Wind), and drumming Icelander Pétur Östlund (Communication and once an original member of Icelandic 60s band Thor's Hammer whose ”I Don't Care” has become a freakbeat classic).

”Tabaruzaka” is lightly fusion indebted contemporary jazz with Japanese shadings. It's not particularly memorable as a whole, but it has some nice textures mainly thanks to Jan Bandel's Celtic harp, vibraphone and tablas. I also must say that Thomas Östergren's fretless bass is surprisingly well applied – it's an instrument I'm not too fond of otherwise.

 
Emphasis On Jazz made one further album in 1984. Fittingly enough, a Japanese pressing of ”Tabaruzaka” also exists, housed in a much better cover (see above).

Full album playlist

NANNIE PORRES, TORGNY BJÖRK, BERNT ROSENGRENS ORKESTER & HERR T OCH HANS SPELMÄN - Horisontlinje (YTF, 1974)

 
Swedish vocals, spoken word
International relevance: *

Consider this a peripheral inclusion, as it's in fact rather low on progg content. It still might interest the occasional reader as it features the great talent of Bernt Rosengren. And one of Rosengren's tracks, ”Tortyr” (=”torture”), is in fact an excellent free jazz blast. Unfortunately it's tainted by a poem recital, but that's actually the theme of the album: It's all centered around the works of poet Per E. Rundquist, some with a clear anti-war and anti-fascist stance, so lots of spoken word here. 

On the other hand, you also get the wonderful voice of Swedish jazz singer Nannie Porres which I consider to be just one notch below the untouchable queen of Swedish jazz singers, Monica Zetterlund. Other participants here are visa singer Torgny Björk and folk outfit Herr T & Hans Spelmän. Some fine arrangements and efforts, but as a totality, the album is disjointed and frustrating to listen to. 

Full album playlist

NISSE SANDSTRÖM GROUP – Öppet Ett (Caprice, 2023; rec. 1965-67)

  
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

”Öppet” (=”open”) is a series of releases curated by free jazz saxophonist and standard-bearer Mats Gustafsson and archivist Roger Bergner, with the ambition to unearth previously unreleased, high quality recordings from the Swedish jazz and avantgarde underground 1965-1975. The series was initiated in 2023 with the very hands-on help from Caprice Records who release the albums in vinyl-only editions and for streaming.

The first volume was by Nisse Sandström, a saxophonist whose 1972 album ”The Painter” in 1972 has become an awarded Swedish jazz classic. Sandström's been more of a sideman, working with numerous performers over the years including Björn J:son Lindh, bassists Red Mitchell and Sture Nordin, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Bernt Rosengren, Monica Törnell and American born piano player Horace Parlan. ”Öppet ett” is notable for several reasons. The recordings predates ”The Painter” with several years, and it features musicians then largely unknown but soon-to-be progg heavyweights: Erik Dahlbäck (Fläsket Brinner), the aforementioned J:son Lindh, and Bella Linnarsson (Baby Grandmothers, Kebnekajse).

The two tracks on the 'A' side predate the time range of this blog, being taped in 1965 and 1966. Nevertheless, they're prime examples of early Swedish free jazz; a must-hear for anyone interested in its regional development. But side 2's ”Bränn fläsket” is something out of the ordinary. Not only does it fit here because of the 1967 recording date, it's a massive 21+ minutes chunk of free-thinking, explorative, explosive free jazz that transcends its own genre. Thanks to Erik Dahlbäck's hard-hitting drumming, it's a visionary, ahead-of-its-time mergence of avant jazz and rock music unheard of in Sweden in 1967. It's the 1960s equivalent to what Mats Gustafsson himself would do some 35 years later with The Thing and Fire! Orchestra. With Linnarsson's electric bass, J:son Lindh's tape treatments and what have you, it almost predicts noise rock in a time when nobody could imagine such a thing (except perhaps for two or three New Yorkers around Angus MacLise).

”Bränn fläsket” was recorded by Swedish Radio for broadcast in early autumn 1967. Had it actually been released back then, it's not unlikely it would have changed the course and sped up the evolution of experimental rock as we know it today. And not only does it significantly move the historical markers, it's bloody great too with the energy of a nuclear power plant!

”Öppet ett” is a top level release, a must from every perspective.

Full album playlist 

ED THIGPEN'S ACTION-RE-ACTION – Ed Thigpen's Action-Re-Action (Sonet, 1974)

 

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Ed Thigpen was a Chicago born drummer growing up in Los Angeles who played with several major league performers. He's probably best known for his work with Oscar Peterson from the late 50s to the mid 60s. He moved to Copenhagen in 1972, and spent the remainder of his life there (he died in 2010 and is buried in Copenhagen). ”Ed Thigpen's Action-Re-Action” was recorded in Denmark in spring 1973 but with a partly Swedish line-up including Lennart Åberg, Sabu Martinez and Kjell Öhman. It was first released on Swedish Sonet in 1974.

Split in two suites ”House Of Poets” and ”Action-Re-Action” divided by standalone track ”Danish Drive”, it's an often funky fusion affair touching on soul jazz, with slight hints at early 70s Miles Davis. The short ”Adventures Of A Duck With Friends” from the title suite even suggests Don Cherry's organic music. While the music isn't always stone cold excellent, it's actually a pretty pleasant experience to listen to the exceptionally tight line-up. It's indeed a high-level performance that everyone involved seem to love being a part of. And compared to several other Swedish jazz fusion albums that sound like they were recorded by a group of social workers on a day release trip to a conference center, this album ought to be a given choice for those into the genre.

The album was reissued on a CD as a twofer with another Danish but lesser 1973 set, "Resource", as "Ed Thigpen In Copenhagen 1973-74" in the mid noughties.

House Of Poets: Le Matin
House Of Poets: Le Soir
House Of Poets: Who's Kidding Who?
Danish Drive 
Action-Re-Action: Illusions
Action-Re-Action: Adventures Of A Duck With Friends
Action-Re-Action: Action-Re-Action

GROWING MUSIC WITH DON by Bengt Berger

When I first planned my overview of Don Cherry's Swedish albums more than a year ago (which was then delayed for several reasons), I thought it needed some more depth than I could possibly give it myself. I figured I needed an eyewitness report from someone close to Cherry during his Swedish years, or better yet: someone who actually played with him. I couldn't possibly think of anyone better than drummer par excellence Bengt "Beche" Berger. He happily agreed to do it, and I sent him a set of questions. I thought it would be a simple little Q & A – he indeed generously answered all my questions, but in the shape of what very well can be called an essay on his years with Don Cherry, with many and valuable peeks into the creative process. (I only translated it.) A massive THANK YOU to Bengt Berger who graciously took the time to provide us with this!

Don Cherry iwith Bitter Funeral Beer Band in 1982

I had of course heard Ornette's quartet already, but the first time I saw Don live was with Sonny Rollins's quartet at the Stockholm Concert House in January 1964. A house next door was on fire, so there was smoke in the hall and they did a fantastic gig. I still listen to the tape I made of the radio broadcast every now and then. [Jazz presenter] Olle Helander aired just about every show at the Concert House. It was a fantastic concert, Don didn't play a lot, mostly tossed in a phrase here and there och joined in with the free handling of themes. Rollins played continuously and was marvellous. Henry Grimes on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Listen to the show! Don later told me that after the concert, Moki told him to come and look at her paintings in the next room but there she turned out the light, and that's how they met.

Next I heard Don's European quintet with J.F. Jenny-Clarke, Aldo Romani, Gato Barbieri and Karl Berger at the Golden Circle [a legendary jazz venue in Stockholm] a few years later. Moki was up front in the audience. That too was fantastic but for some reason, I only saw them one night. I wonder why – when Charles Lloyd's first quartet with Keith [Jarrett], Jack [DeJohnette] and Cecil McBee played at the Circle I saw them every night for two weeks.

At Embassy at Sturegatan [in Stockholm] I heard the trio with Johnny Dyani and Okay Temiz. When Don played a little phrase on a wooden block and sang ”kukorokoko” and paused, I responded from the audience. But it might have been after we met in Uppsala, because Okay had his ordinary drum kit there and that was before he got his giant darbuka drum kit. 

Don and Beche in The Dome 1971

I had started playing with Arbete & Fritid and we had one of our earliest gigs at Norrlands Nation in Uppsala. We shared the bill with Don Cherry who was there with Bernt Rosengren's quartet with Tommy Koverhult and Leif Wennerström. Tommy Koverhult was in the back room before the gig and changed springs and pads on his sax, and when Don heard I play the tabla he told me to sit in with them. I was just back from India, but for some purist reason, I never used them in Arbete & Fritid. And finding tablas in Uppsala on such short notice was impossible, so I never sat in with them that night. But both bands played some fine music that night.

We often played in Stockholm around that time, and it sometimes happened that you could hear Don play along in the middle of a song. He sneaked up on stage behind us, played along for a while and then disappeared. It happened several times with Arbete & Fritid but also when I played with for instance Handgjort, maybe at Gärdet.

But then came The Dome at the Museum of Modern Art. The Cherry family lived in an old bunkhouse next to The Dome, and they spent whole days in The Dome. Moki sewed and painted and Don played with those who came there, and a lot of people did. When I was there, he told me to bring the tablas so I did and we played there every day after that. Moki played the tanpura and Don sang, played the trumpet, flute, a little gamelan or whatever was at hand. A grand piano and Okay's drums were there too, so we used these a lot too.

Don and Beche in The Dome 1971

I can't remember exactly when they bought the schoolhouse in Tågarp, but it must have been around the time when they had just moved there that he asked me to come along. We drove down there, Don, me and Gittan [Jönsson] that would become my girlfriend a few years later. She did a very nice little painting on a log of wood showing how we filled up gas late in the evening on our way down. I think it's still there.

Always when in Tågarp, I stayed in a little room in the attic, it was very cozy. An old schoolhouse is a very harmonious building with its square classrooms at each end and the teacher's residence in-between. They fired up a stove in each schoolroom, one was Moki's atelier and the other was the music room where we also ate and socialized.

Don, Eagle-Eye and the old schoolhouse in Tågarp

Moki had painted the piano in beautiful bright colours and next to it was [Don's son] ”Eagle-Eye's drum kit”. When it was us only, we played piano and drums, lots of Ornette themes that Don played over and over again while I played along in full blast. It NEVER happened that he told me what to play. I always played exactly what I wanted (and I've tried doing so ever since). I could try to catch the melody and learn it, play along with it, but I could also play against it and around it. At first he would play the same thematic turnover forever, and then he played some kind of rhythmic harmonic accompaniment based upon it. My understanding of Ornette's harmolodics is that you construct a chord over an optional number of notes of the melody, and how many notes you choose defines how large the chord will be. You decide for yourself when you create a new chord from a different chunk of the melody. The chords will be different for each melodic section. Anyway, that's how I perceive it. It would have been interesting hearing Ornette himself play over a piano comp like that. Oh, by the way, sometimes Don could give me a sign that he wanted me to play a fast comp on the cymbal, it added brilliance. He gave a cymbal comp sign with his hand. But that was the only instruction he ever gave me.

Or we could play tablas, wooden blocks or some other smaller percussion instruments, and flutes, trumpet, vocals or whatever. Then we were in some kind of Asian territory. Tibetan music also figured. I showed him ragas, scales, and we made up melodies/songs/ways of playing together. Later on they could show up during concerts or at workshops. Don loved to learn and when I gave him his first tabla lessons, I was taught a huge lesson myself. I gave him the first lesson, and then we sat playing together but not like doing the homework – we played music! We could play it over and over again but not as an excercise in order to go on to something new after that – this was the actual creating of music! I had never understood that before, and only occasionally experienced it later.

Beche, Don, Eagle-Eye and Christer Bothén in 1974

My second great piece of learning was the way we treated ”the reportoire” in concert. Case in point: We had a gig at [jazz club] ArtDur, later Nefertiti, in Gothenburg. Bernt Rosengren and I came down from Stockholm, Don from Tågarp, while Christer Bothén already lived in Gothenburg. Don't think we had ever played with that line-up before. We get there, unpack our instruments and start rehearsing on stage. Don plays just like he does when it's just me and him in Tågarp. He picks up a theme and plays it round and round while the others try to learn the tune. All of a sudden he changes to a different theme or a different instrument. Perhaps he sits down at his harmonium. I switch to mridangam, Christer to a donsu'nguni, Bernt maybe to a taragot, and something new takes shape. So it changes; in the middle of a solo Don might switch to a completely different song and you just have to follow along. Either you know the theme, or you try to learn it while playing. All of the time we're making music fully focused. After having kept going for an hour or two, they let the audience in and we keep going without a break or without starting over. After another hour, we might stop or take a break only to start in a while again.

This method of not necessarily playing a song from beginning to end but to change it altogether when you feel like it is something I have tried to practice with all bands I've played with, but with the difference I want everyone in the band to have that same possibility. I think it probably worked best with Berger Knutsson Spering, maybe three people are realistically the best, but it of course depends on who you're playing with. In our case we also allowed ourselves to pick up a song in any tempo or in any style at all, but also refuse to change if someone didn't want to. It can go far but it can also go to hell and that's of course exciting.

* * * 

The photos are taken by unknown photographers and come from countryandeastern.se, all used by kind permission of Bengt Berger.

DON CHERRY – The Swedish albums 1967-1977

It's really quite strange that it took me 13 years of progg blogging before Don Cherry got his own post here. He's emblematic to what I think is the true spirit of the blog, a place where all kinds of music meet as long as it has a mind of its own. And perhaps that's why I overlooked his inclusion for so long: he's so huge and obvious that maybe I thought he was here already. Well, he actually is if only in small portions as he appears on albums by Bengt Berger and Bitter Funeral Beer Band.

Born in Oklahoma City in 1936 with music running in the family, he made his mark on jazz already in the late 1950s when teaming up with Ornette Coleman for a long series of albums including milestone releases ”The Shape Of Jazz To Come” and ”Free Jazz”. He also performed with John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, George Russell, Albert Ayler, Charlie Haden – he passed gracefully through jazz history and jazz history passed smoothly through him and his trumpet. He even played percussion on Allen Ginsburg's album of William Blake interpretations, collaborated with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and Terry Riley, and co-wrote the score for Alejandro Jodorowsky's surrealist movie ”The Holy Mountain”. There's also a famous 1976 recording of Lou Reed live at The Roxy in Los Angeles with Don Cherry sitting in. He often did that – I know several Swedish musicians of different kinds who can tell stories of how they suddenly heard a beautiful sound on stage and when they turned around, there was Don Cherry with his pocket trumpet joining in, uninvited but welcome.

He spent time in Europe in general and Scandinavia in particular. There are for instance a set of great recordings from the Montmartre jazz club in Copenhagen 1966 released on ESP Disk in the late 00s. But it's his recordings with Swedish musicians that stand out from his European years. Cherry's playing was usually great no matter who he performed with, but it was here in Sweden he really found a home both musically and physically. He moved permanently to Sweden in the late 60s, bought a defunct schoolhouse i Tågarp in the beautiful Österlen region of the southern county of Skåne with his wife Monica ”Moki” Cherry. Moki was a textile designer; her works were as colourful and striking as her husband's music and graced several of Don's album covers. They had several children involved in music, with Eagle-Eye Cherry being the best known. Don's stepdaughter Neneh Cherry has also had an interesting and multifaceted career in music.

The house in Tågarp became something of a centre for friends and musicians, and the place where Don Cherry's Organic Music Society shaped and developed, a concept that to all intents and purposes was the forerunner to what would later be known as 'world music', only freer and more open.

Outpourings of Don Cherry's Swedish years weren't that many to begin with, but there's been an upsurge of archival recordings from this period, especially after Cherry's untimely death at 58 in 1995. I have included every album recorded in Sweden and/or with Swedish musicians between 1967 and 1977, except for those where only Moki Cherry appears usually on tamboura. That's not to dismiss her efforts but because I consider her and Don a unit. Also, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I consider Maffy Falay and Okay Temiz Swedish musicians too even though they techncially were Turks. There are also recordings featuring Swedes prior to 1967, such as ”Psycology” [sic!] with domestic free jazz pioneer Bengt ”Frippe” Nordström and released on his own Bird Notes label in 1963 (an album that interestingly enough also features drummer Bosse Skoglund on one track). A George Russell live document from Beethoven Hall in Stuttgart 1965 has both Don Cherry and Bertil Lövgren on trumpets, but that too is excluded due to the early date.

Movement Incorporated (Anagram, 2005; rec. 1967)
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Don Cherry used to hold workshops and music classes at ABF, the labour movement's education centre, and this disc was recorded at one of their locales in July 1967. Old friend from years back Frippe Nordström appears along with Leif Wennerström and Okay Temiz on drums, Maffy Falay on trumpet and flute, Tommy Koverhult on tenor sax and Bernt Rosengren on tenor sax and flute, plus American trombonist Brian Trentham. I'm not sure how official this release actually is. Anagram had a few interesting discs out (including a great one by Gilbert Holmström). The sound quality is nevertheles a good mono recording and once it gathers momeutum, the recording is an excellent example of spontaneous collective composing. ”Suite 3” and ”Surprise Surprise” particularly point to the future with their clear Oriental/Arabic influence. Not easy to find these days – I suppose it only had a small run and the label is now definct, but it's well worth looking for.

 

Brotherhood Suite (Flash Music, 1997; rec. 1968-1971)

released as Don Cherry with Bernt Rosengren Group

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Recorded at various Stockholm locations during the course of four years with roughly the same group as on ”Movement Incorporated”, this is one of my favourite Don Cherry releases. Not only am I a fan of Bernt Rosengren in general, but him in combination with Cherry is usually explosive matter. The sound quality varies due to the different sources, but it's a varied and vivid selection. Some continues along the lines of ”Movement Incorporated” with free jamming while other tracks are composed and focused. If you don't mind the fidelity fluctuations (nothing sounds bad) and the stylistic span, this is a wonderful compilation of an excellent composite of musicians.

 

Live In Stockholm (Caprice, 2013; rec. 1968/1971)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Much like a latecoming expansion pack to the Flash Music disc above, these recordings originate from 1968 and 1971, with the half-hour long ”Another Dome Session” being recorded the same night as ”In A Geodetic Dome” on ”Brotherhood Suite”. The remainder of this release is dedicated to the two-part ”ABF Suite” with the second portion being based on Turkish folk melodies brought in by Maffy Falay. Again a collaboration between Cherry and Rosengren's group, but it's a bit different than the two albums above. Here you can sense the direction in which the trumpeter was heading in the future, getting closer to a more dissolved, genre bending style, the musical crossroad of the entire world. As a study of his development it's certainly rewarding, but it doesn't quite have the same impact as other Rosengren/Cherry documents.

 

The Summer House Sessions (Blank Forms Editions, 2021; rec. 1968)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

This is an absolutely fantastic album that perfectly melds Cherry's free jazz power with his search for a universal expression! It was recorded in the summer home of Göran Freese, sound engineer and musician (appearing on, for instance, G.L.Unit's ”Orangutang”), and mixes members from the ”Live In Stockholm” band with musicians from his international ensemble New York Total Music Company. The idea was to have them jam and rehearse freely without any intention of making an album, but thankfully the tapes rolled and the recordings were finally presented to the world in 2021. The undemanding setting made for some stunning performances that rank among the finest ever from Cherry and his cohort. The music flows freely between traditions, and Turkish hand drummer Bülent Ateş really adds an extra dimension. Essential!

 

Eternal Rhythm (MPS, 1969; rec. 1968)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Another international grouping comprising American, German, Norweigan and French musicians, plus Swedes Bernt Rosengren and Eje Thelin, recorded live at the Berlin Jazz Festival in November 1968. It's a long suite notable for utilizing a large number of flutes and an array of Gamelan percussion. A giant step in Cherry's career, and the first album to properly predict the 'organic music' concept. With names like Albert Mangelsdorff and Sonny Sharrock it's clear from the start that the music is grounded in free jazz, but when adding the unusual (for jazz) timbres of the metal instruments, it becomes something else, something wider in scope and emotion. The thing is that is doesn't sound at all contrived suggesting that Don Cherry had a very clear idea worked out in his head what he wanted to achieve by using them. AllMusic's Brian Olewnick called ”Eternal Rhythm” ”required listening” and I am the first to agree.

 

Live Ankara (Sonet, 1978; rec.1969)

Instrumental

International relevance: **

Having already acquainted Maffy Falay and Okay Temiz, Don Cherry was no stranger to Turkish music, and in late 1969 he got to play at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara with Temiz, saxophonist Irfan Sümer and bassist Selçuk Sun. Despite relying heavily on Turkish traditional material, it's a fairly straightforward set revealing strong traces of Cherry's past with Ornette Coleman (especially with two Ornette compositions in the set). It's not very exciting, and the dull sound also hampers the experience a bit.

 

Music For A Turkish Theatre (Caz Plak, 2024; rec. 1970)

released as Don Cherry/Okay Temiz

Instrumental, wordless vocals

International relevance: **

Another Turkish recording, this time with an interesting backstory. The music was commissioned for a play written by James Baldwin who was living in Turkey off and on between 1961 and 1971 having fled racism and homophobia in the U.S., and produced by theatre owner Engin Cezzar. Dealing with gay relationships in an Istanbul prison, the play was controversial and banned by the Turkish government in after 30,000 people had already seen in it in two months. The music has its moments, but it's by no means essential. It's value lies mainly in the story behind it. Released physically on vinyl only, it came with four different covers, all in limited editions and now sold out.

 

Blue Lake (BYG, 1974; rec. 1971)

Instrumental, wordless vocals, other languages

International relevance: **'

A trio date from Paris, 1971 with Cherry, Temiz and bassist Johnny Dyani. I don't like it at all. First of all, I don't think Temiz and Dyani is a good team (see thisreview), and second of all I don't like Don Cherry's vocals and there's a lot of that on ”Blue Lake”. The playing is messy and sometimes simply directionless, it just goes on forever without getting anywhere. The album was originally released only in Japan 1974 but has for no good reason been reissued several times since.

 

Orient (BYG, 1973; rec. 1971)

Instrumental, wordless vocals, other languages

International relevance: ***

A sister album to ”Blue Lake” released the year before, with half of the double album having more tracks from the same Cherry/Dyani/Temiz date, meaning they also sound about the same. The two albums were reissued together on CD in 2003.

 

Organic Music Society (Caprice, 1973; rec. 1971-1972)

Instrumental, English vocals, other languages, wordless vocals

International relevance: ***

The album that most of all epitomizes Don Cherry's 'organic music' theories. It's intriguing and annoying, messy and flourishing, intense and flaccid all at once. There are field recordings and studio takes, focused performances and half-baked ideas in a raffle of sound and it's sometimes hard to make sense of it. That is the album's weakness but also its strength, and what you think of it probably very much depends on your current mood. I personally would have preferred the double album slimmed down to a single disc, keeping side 2 and 3 (despite Cherry's vocals) and perhaps keep the rather captivating ”North Brazilian Ceremonial Hymn” as an opening track. It would have narrowed the scope of the organic music idiom and by that missed the point, but it would have made a more cohesive album.

A nice list of performers though: Tommy Koverhult, Christer Bothén, dynamic duo Temiz & Falay, and – most importantly – Bengt Berger. Engineered by Göran Freese, the summer house owner who initiated the majestic 1968 recordings.

 

Organic Music Theatre: Festival de Jazz de Chateauvallon 1972 

 (Blank Forms Editions, 2021, rec. 1972)

released as Don Cherry's New Researches featuring Nana Vasconcelos
Instrumental, English vocals, other languages, wordless vocals
International relevance: ***

The organic music brought to the stage for the very first time. With Christer Bothén and various tag along friends from Sweden plus Brazilian percussionist and berimbau player Nana Vasconcelos performing as Don Cherry's New Researches in the Southern France. Much more focused than ”Organic Music Society” although Cherry's vocals are still a major snag.

 

Eternal Now (Sonet, 1974)

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: ***

With the organic music concept being worked on for a couple of years, the essence of it had finally crystallized on 1974's ”Eternal Now”. A mellow and spiritually gripping album that stands head and shoulders above any previous attempts in the style. Maybe because not every Tom, Dick and Harry creaks and clangs and babble their way into the music – with a personnel of only five including Cherry himself, they can move in the same direction without any distraction from unnecessary outsiders. Especially as they're such a tight unit to begin with, with Cherry, Berger, Bothén and Rosengren at the core with Agneta Arnström only adding Tibetan bells to one track and ngoni (a West African string instrument) to another. ”Eternal Now” (a beautiful title!) oozes with midnight magic, it's like incense for the ears and enlightenment for the soul. Without a doubt one of Cherry's best 70s albums and one of Moki's best album cover works to boot.

 

Modern Art (Mellotronen, 2014; rec. 1977)

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: ***

A live recording from The Museum Of Modern Art in Stockholm in early 1977. Per Tjernberg from Archimedes Badkar finally makes an appearance on a Don Cherry album – it seems just so appropriate. More unexpectedly, so does Jojje Wadenius who sounds a bit lost to begin with when on electric guitar but blends in better once he switches to the acoustic. (He returns to the electric towards the end and seem a bit more comfortable then.) It's a set heavy on Indian influences so it's surprising not seeing Bengt Berger here. I think he might have been a great staibilizer, because although the performance is rather pleasant, it's a bit trying and uncertain.

However, like I said earlier, Berger's and Cherry's collaboration continued later with Cherry being a vital part of the excellent Bitter Funeral Beer Band. A collaboration that extended beyond the time frame of the Swedish Progg Blog.

There are of course numerous of other Cherry albums without any Swedish connections, some of them less good but some of them among the best jazz music ever put to disc. Don Cherry was a true master, and as a Swede I feel honoured that he chose to live here for so long and also produce some of the finest music of his career while doing so. He was not only a real visionary, he was also a true genius.

Movement Incorporated no links found
Brotherhood Suite full album
Live In Stockholm full album playlsit 
The Summer House Sessions full album playlist       
Eternal Rhythm full album playlist   
Live Ankara full album  
Music For A Turkish Theatre full album playlist (Bandcamp)
Orient / Blue Lake full album playlist
Organic Music Society full album playlist  
Organic Music Theatre full album playlist (Bandcamp) 
Eternal Now full album
Modern Art full album playlist     

There's also an hour-long Don Cherry documentary called "Det är inte min musik" (="it's not my music") made  by Swedish Televison in 1978 that gives some further insight into his life in Sweden. You can watch it here. 

MWENDO DAWA – Basic Line (Sonet, 1979) / Free Lines (Dragon, 1981)

 

Basic Line (Sonet, 1979) 

Instrumental
International relevance: **

The first of many albums from these Gothenburg jazzers who carved out a fusion jazz niche of their own with Susanna Lindeborg's mini moog. However, it hadn't yet found its natural place in the music this early on, and it sounds a bit like it was added when the others had done their parts, like an afterthought. Mwendo Dawa was to a fair degree tenor saxophonist Ove Johansson's band, but it was Lindeborg's keyboards that gave them their special character. ”Basic Line” sounds as if they're still searching for their unique sound, like they still are getting to know each other musically. It took some time still before they got there. Recorded in 1978.

 

Free Lines (Dragon, 1981)

Instrumental, wordless vocals

International relevance: **

Two years and a couple of albums later, Mwendo Dawa had lost guitarist Ulf Wakenius which proved beneficial. ”Free Lines” is a much tighter work signified by a greater collective self-assurance. Ove Johansson plays with great ease here occasionally touching on free jazz, but the most striking leap forward comes from drummer David Sundby who's very powerful on ”Free Lines” giving the music a the much needed push that the debut lacked. Even the album's more lyrical moments are tenser and denser. And while Susanna Lindeborg may not have a leading role here, her keyboards slip much more smoothly into the music. 

from "Basic Line":
Important Level
Basic Line

from "Free Lines"
Maria

MONGEZI FEZA & BERNT ROSENGREN QUARTET – Free Jam (Ayler, 2004; rec. 1972)

 

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

This is a double punch knockout! Recorded around the same time as trumpeter Mongezi Feza's albums with Johnny Dyani and Okay Temiz, this is miles above them all. (It should be said that Temiz is present here as well, but in a much more appropriate context.) The secret weapon here is Bernt Rosengren's quartet who really goes for it, and his band is a much better match to Feza.

Double CD ”Free Jam” was recorded during two shows in mid and late November 1972, and the title explains it all: this is collective improvisations. A dangerous game if you can't find the flow, but these five gentlemen sure do. They touch on multiple jazz styles, or more like referencing them, because it's all free jazz in the best sense of the word. Powerful, energetic, symbiotic, osmotic. It's so exhilarating when it happens and this is an exhilarating release.

The sound quality isn't top notch, it's a slightly distant audience recording from a somewhat echoey venue, but the force of the music still comes through with crystalline focus. If you're used to listening to free jazz it shouldn't be much of a problem, as many obscure free jazz albums aren't any hi-fi experiences anyway. And this is one of the finest examples of the style recorded and released in Sweden.

Selective album playlist (Bandcamp)

OPPOSITE CORNER / PALLE DANIELSSON -6- – Club Jazz 5 (SR, 1971)

 

 Instrumental

International relevance: ***

The ”Club Jazz” series was a series of nine volumes of jazz recordings made for Swedish Radio between 1970 and 1974, a bit like a jazz equivalent of the three ”Tonkraft” double LPs released in the early 80s. The albums were usually split between two artists, one per side, and not all couplings made sense. There's for instance one album with Arbete & Fritid on one side and trad jazzers Kustbandet on the other. ”Club Jazz 5” has a better match, with a very early Opposite Corner recording and one by a rare sixpiece line-up led by bassist Palle Danielsson.

This session with Opposite Corner is five years earlier than their proper debut album ”Jazz i Sverige '76” and a bit different. It's not full on free jazz wild but they let loose a bit more here than they did later on. And it's much better! The Arabic scales in opening track ”Ayazin” is very tasteful, and Gunnar Lindgren delivers some fine tenor sax soloing in ”Blacklouti Strikes Back”. Last track from them is ”Tibetanskt urindop” and is probably as close Opposite Corner ever got to Arbete & Fritid. A very good session, well worth hearing even if you're not into their later work.

Turn the record over and you find four tracks from Palle Danielsson's band. This is where it gets really interesting. Featured here is an all star cast of Lennart Åberg, Bobo Stenson, Jon Christensen, Bengt Berger and Roland Keijser along with Danielsson himself! A highly vivid session with Berger in particular going bonkers on the drums – it's among the most ferocious drumming I've heard from him, and it's interesting to note that this was recorded in the same year as Fickteatern's ”Allt växer till det hejdas” which also has some mad Berger playing. But the ensemble effort is great all through, and I really wish there were more recordings from this particular lot.

So with two unique and splendid sessions, this is one for the ages.

Full album

GÁBOR SZABÓ – The Swedish albums

Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian born American guitarist whose best known albums are ”Bacchanal”, ”Dreams” both from 1968, and unfortunately also unbelievably cheesy ”Jazz Raga” from 1967. If you want to hear stunningly bad sitar playing, please choose ”Jazz Raga”, one of legendary jazz label Impulse's greatest brainslips. ”Bacchanal” and ”Dreams” however are two lovely examples of pop jazz with psychedelic tinges. Two albums of quality cool kitsch.

 

Small World (Four Leaf Clover, 1972)

Instrumental

International relevance: **

Recorded in two days in August 1972 in Stockholm, this is the first Szabó album to feature Swedish musicians, this time Schaffer and Nils-Erik Svensson of Svenska Löd AB!, Stefan Brolund, Sture Nordin, and Berndt Egerbladh. It's one of Szabó's best 70s albums, very close to his 60s work, with his characteristic guitar sound set to a groove-laiden background. Szabó recorded the Oriental sounding ”Mizrab” several times, but this version is the best of them all, with a great, funky ensemble performance. (A mizrab is the special kind of plectrum you put on your index finger when you play sitar.) ”Small World” is an often overlooked album which deserves more attention. Several different cover variations exist.

 

Belsta River (Four Leaf Clover, 1979)

Instrumental

International relevance: **

Another two-day session in Sweden, this time in January 1978 (but not released until the following year). Only Schaffer is left from ”Small World”, with Wlodek Gulgowski, Malando Gassama, Peter Sundell (from De Gladas Kapell), and Finnish/Swedish Pekka Pohjola joining him. Nowhere near as good as ”Small World”, this is muzak fusion, decorative but dull. The Latin affected ”24 Carat” has some life in it, but it's still not very good. (The album was also released in Japan as ”24 Carat”.)

”Belsta River” was to be one of Szabó's last albums. He died in 1982 while visiting his birth town Budapest only 45 years old from liver and kidney failure caused by drug abuse.

Small World full album playlist
Belsta River full album playlist